


Stranger Consequences

by underneaththepleasure



Series: Stranger Consequences [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Community - Freeform, Corporal Punishment, Dom/sub, Dominance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Feelings Realization, Help, Hurt/Comfort, Light Bondage, Multi, Non-Sexual Spanking, Non-Sexual Submission, Platonic Relationships, Punishment, Slow Burn, Spanking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 08:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13027092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/underneaththepleasure/pseuds/underneaththepleasure
Summary: Friends don't lie. Steve Harrington is going to add a couple of new items to that list: friends also shouldn't hide things from each other, shouldn't stop taking care of themselves, and definitely should trust his judgement when it comes to making rules and making sure they're followed closely.Well...he supposes that last one is a bit particular, but he's instating it anyway. Jonathan and Nancy can't fight their inner demons alone, and Steve steps up in a fairly unusual way to ensure their safety and happiness.//First in the 'Stranger Consequences' Series//





	Stranger Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> Updates every Sunday!

Summary: Jonathan Byers blames himself. Nancy Wheeler can’t say no to “pure fuel.”  Why? They’re not sure. But Steve Harrington is sure about one thing - he’s a protector, and he’ll be damned if his two best friends don’t start taking care of themselves. // First in the Stranger Consequences series //

 

WARNING: Consensual spanking of two 17 year olds by an 18 year old. 

* * *

 

Nancy didn’t understand how she kept finding herself in these places: ear-piercing music blaring out of every speaker, douchebags and bitchy drama queens constantly knocking into her, and the ever-present fear everyone tried to ignore of the cops showing up. House parties. Nancy hated house parties. And yet, here she was, on her third solo cup spiked full of God-knows-what.

She didn’t think about the fact that this was the sixth party this month. She definitely didn’t think about the fact that Steve had stopped showing up to them after he’d seen her at the first. All she thought about was how bitter the drink was and how the thick scent of sweat and too much cologne made her want to vomit. Jonathan wasn’t here to keep her feeling safe anymore, either. He’d stopped coming after the fourth. 

The thought made her stomach clench painfully, and she pushed it away with another swig of ‘pure fuel.’   
  


* * *

 

 

Jonathan couldn’t stand the way his mom looked at him nowadays. He’d grown so used to all of her attention being so focused on Will - making sure he was adjusting alright, keeping an eye out for any and all symptoms that could hint at even the slightest thing being wrong with him - but it had been three months. Will was doing great. Now, his mom didn’t miss when he only ate half of the food on his plate, or how he clearly hadn’t slept a full night since everything had happened. There were bags under his eyes and his cheekbones were sharper than they ever had been. His mom knew - his mom always knew, it just had never taken her this long to notice, and he’d begun to count on her obliviousness. 

“Baby, you should really talk to somebody,” she said, so gently, as she sat next to Jonathan on his bed. Will had gone to sleep hours ago, and Hopper had just said his goodbyes after joining them for dinner that evening. She continued, “I can’t ignore the fact that you aren’t eating. Hopper even said something tonight. He said you look sick, and I -” 

“Mom,” Jonathan interrupted, “I’m okay. I am. I just need time.” 

Joyce eyed him knowingly. “What you  _ need  _ is to open up a little. You can’t bare all of this by yourself. I didn’t, Will didn’t, no one did. Why should you be any different?”

Jonathan didn’t have an answer. He felt like he never did anymore. 

His mom just sighed and kissed the side of his head. “You know Hopper loves you boys like his own. If you can’t talk to me, maybe you can talk with him? Or maybe Nance or Steve? Someone who will understand.”

Jonathan tensed a little at the mention of Nancy. He missed her, but she was on a path he was terrified of. It reminded him of his father, and there was no way he could ever even  _ risk  _ putting Will through something like that again. 

Steve? He missed Steve. Steve was strong, and level-headed, and kind. The guy was a natural born leader, and Jonathan was drawn to that. They hung out every once in awhile, and Jonathan did recall one particular conversation they’d had right after the gate had closed and everything was beginning to return to normal: 

 

_ ‘I can tell you’re not alright, buddy,’ Steve said. They were sitting on the edge of the pool, pant legs rolled up to their knees. They let their feet soak in the cool water as the warm night encompassed them. ‘I know that opening up is hard. I’ve seen it in myself and in a lot of the people I love. But if you  _ ever  _ need  _ anything,  _ Jonathan Byers, you come straight to me and I will do everything I can to make things right. Do you understand?’ _

 

Jonathan hadn’t understood at the time, but now he felt like he wanted to. Joyce didn’t comment on how thoughtful her son had become. She only said, “I love you. You are a smart boy, and I know you’ll make the right decision.” 

Jonathan couldn’t help but return the smile she sent him as she left the room.

 

* * *

Steve had been reading when the phone began to ring. Annoyed, he’d been tempted not to answer, but something had tugged at him to get off the couch and pick up the phone. 

He yanked the handset ff of the cradle and answered with an uninterested, “Hello.” 

The laugh caught his attention. “Nancy?” He asked, recognizing it immediately. Suddenly all he could think about was the night they broke up - the party, the heartbreak, him abandoning her to fend for herself. “Nancy? What’s going on?” 

“I didn’t even mean to call you!” She told him, still laughing and having to stop to catch her breath. “This is just crazy.”

“Where are you?” Steve felt his anxiety begin to creep into his stomach. All he had ever wanted was her to be happy and safe. He got the feeling that currently, she was neither of those things.

He had to strain to hear the next sentence, which was barely understandable with the music and voices all around her: “I called the first number I could remember because I’m scared and so tired, Stevie.” 

Heart clenching, he told her, “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“You don’t even know where I am!” 

“Katie Clemin’s annual birthday bash,” Steve recited. “I have gone every year since I was 13. Now listen, I’ll be there in five, do you understand?” 

“I do, I’ll see you soon, please don’t be angry,” she answered, all the words smooshing together like a preschooler had said them. 

“Don’t worry.” Steve hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket and keys. Just in case, he grabbed a bucket from under the sink in case Nancy threw up in his car. He wasted no time starting up the engine and hauling ass to Katie’s house. 

He’d been invited, of course, like every year. A party wasn’t a party without King Steve. But he couldn’t pretend like that was his crowd anymore. Moreso, he hated seeing Nancy pretend like it was  _ her  _ crowd. She so obviously hated them. A part of him felt responsible, but at the end of the day he knew she was responsible for her own decisions. 

He was glad that one of those decisions had been to call him tonight. He pushed down the nerves he felt at the thought of taking Nancy to his house to recover, but it had to be done. 

_ Happy and safe, _ he reminded himself.  _ That’s all that matters.  _

 

* * *

 

Nancy had started to feel scared when she started hearing the chants: ‘ _ Billy! Billy! Billy!’ _

She wanted nothing to with him. Mike had told her all about how he’d pummeled Steve in front of all of the kids - the guy had no boundaries or morals. She was sure it ran deeper than that, but she didn’t care; she simply didn’t want to be near him. When she’d picked up the phone, she had dialed the first number she could remember, but not realizing at all who it belonged to. She felt a warmness in her body when she’d heard Steve on the line. 

That warmness was quickly replaced with panic when he said he was coming to get her. 

“I do, I’ll see you soon, please don’t be angry,” she’d blurted. She cared so much about him. She was hurt and confused and so scared, but more than anything she wanted him to have a good opinion of her, and Nancy knew that this was not a situation he’d be proud of. 

_ Why am I acting like a little kid in trouble? Get it together, Wheeler,  _ she told herself, stumbling over her feet as she searched for her jacket and purse. Remembering vaguely that she’d put them in a closet somewhere, she began opening random doors, hoping she’d find the right one in time to meet Steve outside. The last thing she wanted was for him to come inside searching for her. 

She swung open what felt like the hundredth door, and lone behold, Billy Hargrove and a tiny brunette she remembered as Lisa were snuggled inside, kissing like their lives depended on it. Billy barely paused long enough to look up and wink at her before going back to snogging the living daylights out of this girl. Nancy saw the sleeve of her jacket tucked behind Lisa, and quickly went to reach for it, but Billy was faster and grabbed hold of her wrist. 

“Don’t you wanna stay for a while, pretty princess?” He leered, the girl in his hold so drunk she didn’t notice anything had changed and kept trying to kiss whatever was in front of her - which ended up being a button on his shirt. 

“No, thank you, I was just leaving,” Nancy answered, lacking her normal confidence. She knew she was drunk. If Billy wanted to hurt her, even under normal circumstances, he could; she didn’t want to think what would happen when she was this intoxicated. She tried to tug her wrist free, but he held on tight. 

“Who’s coming to pick you up, Nance? The fag Jonathan or tough-guy Stevie?” Billy laughed, hard and cruelly. “I’d love to get my hands on either one.” 

Suddenly a voice boomed over the music. “If you don’t let go of Nancy in the next two seconds, you’re gonna be missing a hand.” 

Nancy sucked in a breath, feeling equal parts relieved and terrified. She tried to focus more on the relief. Steve shared a quick glance with her before putting all his attention on Billy. 

Billy only laughed harder. “Stevie, my man! Look at that, last time I saw you, you had my handiwork all over your pretty little face. Want a touch up?” He finally let go of Nancy and pushed the tiny brunette away from him as he stepped out of the closet and closer to Steve. A few people standing nearby took notice of the tension building between them and started getting other people in on the hype. Before they knew it, the music had stopped and every pair of eyes were focused on Steve and Billy. Nancy felt ready to wilt. 

Billy stood nose to nose with Steve; Steve didn’t mind. It allowed him to notice two things. One, Billy didn’t smell like alcohol. Why, at a party where the booze flowed freely, would this idiot abstain from drinking? And two, there were shadows of bruises under Billy’s eye and at the corner of his mouth. Steve wondered about those. It was 110% possible, with the attitude he had, that Billy had gotten in a fight with some other kid. However, in a town that small coupled with the status Steve had at the high school, he knew he would have heard about a fight like that from someone. As far as he knew, Billy kept to himself nowadays. 

Steve filed those thoughts away for another day. Right now, all eyes were on them, and he needed to get Nancy home. 

“Don’t forget who’s ‘king’ around here, Hargrove,” Steve reminded him. The crowd around them chuckled, clearly having already chose their side. Billy didn’t seem to care. 

“As far as I know, a good ‘king’ doesn’t sit in his castle doing jack shit while the rest of us are out here having a great time,” Billy retorted easily. “Looks to me like your reign has come to an end, Stevie.”

Steve smirked at the shorter man. “I’m only gonna remind you one time,” he said quietly, becoming a lot more menacing than Billy remembered. “I may not show up to every single get-together, but  _ every one  _ of these people remember a time when I had their back. That’s what a good ‘king’ does, Billy. I have stood up for these people since middle school. Loyalty like theirs doesn’t come easily. It’s  _ earned,  _ through years of consistency and common decency.” He paused and got a fraction closer to the blond bombshell. “Do you  _ really  _ want to see what happens when an outsider threatens their king?” 

Steve watched the confliction play out on Billy’s face. The tension in the air was nearly suffocating. Billy glanced at the other people in the room, and they must’ve done Steve justice, because he did something no one was expecting: he walked away. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t make a scene. He just left. There was a deafening silence as he grabbed his leather jacket off the back of a chair, lit a cigarette and swaggered through the back door. 

Steve let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and reached out for Nancy’s hand. She took it right away, and the group around them began to disperse. A few of them patted Steve on the back, silently showing their support. Steve appreciated it, but he really just wanted to get himself and Nancy out of this place. She could barely stand on her own two feet. He quietly left the house, Nancy in tow, and led her straight to the car. 

She stopped when they got to the passenger door. “I don’t know if I want to go with you,” she said, sounding stuck somewhere between a whine and being terrified. Steve looked at her, his brows knit with confusion. She continued, “I know you’re upset with me and I don’t want to deal with that, I’ve been trying to avoid you because I know how disappointed you are and I can’t deal with another person in my life feeling that way about me.” 

Steve wared against his initial reaction to wrap her up in his arms. She looked so scared - the Nancy he loved, full of confident defiance, was hiding from him and he wanted to draw her back out. When he saw her lip begin to tremble, he pushed aside his reservations and pulled her against his chest. She latched on so tight. 

“I’m disappointed in your actions but I could never be disappointed in you, Nancy,” he muttered against her soft, chestnut hair. The familiar smell of vanilla shampoo made him feel so at home. Forcing down a huge swell of emotions, he added, “This isn’t somewhere we should be. Billy might still be lurking around. Let me take you home, okay?” 

“Okay,” she answered, so quietly that Steve barely caught it. She reluctantly released the grip she had on him. He opened her door and carefully guided her into the car, buckling her up since she looked half asleep and he wasn’t sure she’d remember to do it herself. After he shut the door, he took a second to breathe in the cold, crisp air. It barely calmed his racing heart and unsettled stomach, but it did help him clear his mind. Nancy was drunk -  _ very  _ drunk. There was nothing he could do to help her tonight. He planned to have a quick talk with her before helping her get ready for bed. He didn’t plan on taking her to her parent’s; he knew she’d probably already told them she was staying at a friends house. His parents had moved and left their estate to him, and there were plenty of guest rooms for Nancy to stay in. When he told her he’d take her home, he’d meant it. Nancy always had a home with him, and she always would. 

Steve scanned the area, still weary of Billy possibly sticking around, ready to pounce. But he didn’t see or hear anything but the party roaring back to life. Shaking his head, he wondered how he’d ever been such a huge part of this scene. 

 

* * *

 

Jonathan’s body was ridged with tension. He sat quietly in his car, hands gripping the steering wheel. He hadn’t even started the engine, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to. His heart was telling him to run to Steve. The older boy had sworn he’d be there for him, and right now, Jonathan really needed him. He was sweating, his stomach was revolting and his thoughts were telling him that going to Steve would be a mistake. It was getting so hard to keep everything running smoothly. His body felt like it was shutting down, and now his mom was catching onto the fact that he wasn’t okay. Soon, Will would notice, if he hadn’t already. After that, everything would be in chaos. He couldn’t handle that. 

He pressed his forehead against the steering wheel and tried not to cry. He’d never been big on suppressing emotions, but lately there were just so many, constantly. It kept his mind racing, so he never slept; it gave him so much anxiety that his stomach could barely keep anything down, so he hardly ate. His grades were  _ nothing  _ like they used to be. Teachers had started pulling him aside, giving him the whole ‘is everything alright at home?’ bullshit talk. The more he thought about everything, the harder it got to keep the tears from falling, and soon enough he felt them dripping down face. 

Jonathan wiped them away and stormed out of the car, slamming the door shut. He’d figure this out on his own. He started walking. He didn’t know where, but he knew he needed space and fresh air. Everything was falling apart. Why wasn’t he surprised? He was a Byers, and nothing ever worked out the way they hoped. More tears fell, and he ignored them. 

From inside the house, Will watched his older brother storm off into the woods. The younger boy sat and waited for him as the sun set, and the moon made its grand appearance. That’s how Joyce found him once she came home from work: curled up and asleep by the window, a small scowl on his face, and one of Jonathan’s tapes playing from the bedroom. 

 


End file.
